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Move snow in a hurry.

If you dig a lot of snow pits, or otherwise find yourself frequently moving large amounts of snow, the Black Diamond Evac 9 Shovel is the workhorse you want. It's Black Diamond's biggest shovel, with an flat-profile XL blade that's bigger than the one found on the Evac 7, and extended length of over three feet for serious digging power. The D-grip handle provides a solid platform for aggressive snow moving, and the shaft converts quickly into hoe mode so you can pull lots of snow downhill on steep slopes. All this comes with a slight weight penalty—at two pounds, the Evac 9 isn't the lightest tool on the market—but if you'd rather carry a few extra ounces than waste minutes digging, it's exactly what you've been looking for.

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Beast of a Shovel

Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer

This was a huge upgrade after using a tiny Voile shovel for the past 10 years!. It moves snow like no other shovel out there and the hoe feature is great for digging snow pits. For being such a large shovel, it still packs down small enough to fit inside my Osprey Kode 22+10 ABS pack. It has reduced my dig out time after burying my snowmobile in deep snow significantly as well.

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Moves Snow Well

Familiarity: I've used it several times

The hardest and most time consuming part of an avalanche rescue is the digging, so I prefer (and strongly recommend) to go with a big ol' shovel over the light weight shovels. This one is not very light or compact, but is very effective at moving snow which is most important.

One thing that annoys me is that the handle design is such that it cannot sit flat in your back, making it even more space-consuming than I feel it should be. Minor gripe, I've had it for two seasons now and don't plan on replacing it, but it ain't perfect. When it's time to dig though, that big handle that you can actually get your hand into makes a big difference.

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Big, But Efficient

Familiarity: I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions

When I bought this from the BD store, I had been planning on getting the EVAC 7. Unfortunately, they sold out earlier in the day. I wanted the features of the EVAC shovel, so I went with the 9. Like the title of this page says, it moves snow in a hurry. In my level 1 avalanche course, we dug plenty of snow pits, as well as mock rescue digs for a burial victim. The longer handle and massive blade made any digging very easy, and it's almost 30cm wide, so it's distributes pressure well on column tests. When refilling in the pits, switching the shovel to hoe mode made things really easy. Just swing the blade above the pit and pull.

One thing I would say to potential buyers is this blade is wide. I was able to fit the blade, handle, and my BCA 240cm probe in the wet compartment of my BCA Stash BC pack (2135cu in) the night before my first tour, but in the field, I couldn't get all three items back in it. I started putting the handle in my main compartment. Even after moving the handle out, getting the zipper closed around the blade was a pain. This is not a ding on the EVAC 9, as I knew it was a big shovel, my pack is just a bit small. Just keep it in mind if buying this.

Another thing to keep in mind is when shortening the handle length from extended to compact, go slowly. The metal button that you push in to extend or compress the handle will not pop out quickly enough to catch in the hole by the handle if you push it too fast, and will push the shaft up into the handle. Doing that will push some of the curved part of the shaft that attaches to the blade into the upper part of the shaft, and actually got stuck for me. I had to really put a lot of force on it to pop it back out. It's tough to articulate what I'm saying, so I'll try to remember to take some pictures to more easily illustrate this.

The only real complaint I have is the ridges in the shovel. When doing the shoulder portion of a column test, it hurts your fist if you hit on one of the ridges. My left wrist is still sore from two days ago, but I also had a watch on, so that created more pressure. There may be an engineering reason behind the ridges in the blade, though. I did knock it down one star for this, and it is my only complaint.

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~10.5" at the widest part of the blade, near the end of it. ~8" at the part of the blade the handle attaches to. ~12.5" in length, measured from where the handle attaches, to the middle of the open part of the blade. ~3.75" tall where the handle attaches.